THIS invention relates to sensor devices such as temperature sensing devices, and to a method of producing such devices.
In many applications, in fields as diverse as engineering, health care, packaging and transport it is desirable to obtain quantitative information on the distribution of the temperature of a relatively large object (for example, a container for liquid or a package containing foodstuffs).
At present the most common method used for this purpose is infrared or visible thermography, in which the thermal radiation emitted by the object is recorded by a digital camera. While having the advantage, for some applications, of being a non-contact measurement, this is often a disadvantage due to factors such as extraneous radiation, poor visibility and obscuring of the field of view, transparency of the material and variations in emissivity and reflectivity. It is therefore often desirable to utilize a sensor which is in good direct thermal contact with the object. Generally this requires either a flexible or conformable sensor array which can be affixed to a non-flat surface.
Presently, when a direct temperature measurement of an object is required, individual discrete components are mounted onto or held in contact with the object. The sensors used are either thermocouples or, more often, resistive devices such as thermistors. The construction, and equally important, the electrical connection of a flexible multi-sensor array can be complex and expensive, as in the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,228 of Schonberger, for example.
It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative multi-sensor temperature sensing device.